Not enjoying the benefits of a campus football stadium can trigger some rather unusual behavior on the part of the few head coaches who board a bus for each game on their schedules.

At Redlands East Valley High School, coach Kurt Bruich doesn’t look forward to the upcoming time change in November. The Wildcats don’t have a home field and don’t practice under the lights.

“On my way home, I’ll see the lights on at Redlands and Citrus Valley, so they’re still practicing,” Bruich said, referring to the other district schools. “In fact, when the time changes, we have to re-adjust our practice schedule.

“We’ll work on our passing game while there’s still decent daylight. When it gets darker, we’ll work on the running game. You just have to adjust.”

That’s one of the issues schools without stadiums contend with. Other factors include scheduling, transportation (not only the football teams but also the band), supporting game personnel, officials and attendance.

With the current trend to construct campus facilities, the number of schools without campus venues is at an all-time low. The list includes Alta Loma, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario and Etiwanda in the Chaffey Joint Union High School District; Summit in the Fontana district; REV in Redlands; Granite Hills in the Apple Valley district and Indian Springs in San Bernardino.

With the additions of new stadiums — Silverado, Diamond Ranch and Garey this year — scheduling has been a bit easier and there are fewer Thursday night games than in recent memory. But maybe that’s not altogether good.

“Our original schedule had us playing six Thursday games,” Alta Loma head coach Joe Szczpanski said. “We were able to work on it through our district and worked it down to four.

“But I’ve been thinking about that ever since. We would have a tremendous advantage by playing on Thursday because we would be used to it, The other teams would have to adjust to it, not us.”

The biggest change is in game preparation. With a game on Friday, schools get in four practices, including a light session Thursday. Playing on Thursday eliminates one usually intense practice day. As a result of its schedule, the Braves will have eliminated a week of practice during the season.

Thursday games also have a financial impact at the gate. Crowds aren’t as big on a school night and it hurt student finances as admission revenue is earmarked for the student body.

Summit and Etiwanda have found solutions. By staying on each other’s schedule, and in agreement, they split the gates in games played at Miller High School, which serves as Summit’s home but also occasionally is used by Etiwanda.

“Our season opener was at Miller with Etiwanda, but their homecoming, so we used the visiting side. Miller and (athletic director John) Romagnoli have been very supportive,” Summit athletic director Steve Hickey said. “We were able to work it out so that our big (Sunkist League) game against Kaiser will be on a Friday night.”

With more games on Friday, it’s doubtful any school — outside of those that play in major stadiums — will come close to the reported $125,000 Fontana collected at the gate in its 1987 CIF-SS championship run.

“There’s no sense of community when you have to travel for every game,” Alta Loma athletic director Brett Proctor said.

It was slightly different when the Braves played at Chaffey College, but the increasing stadium rental fee forced the school to move its home games to Chaffey High School in Ontario.

At one point, Chaffey College was busy as many as three nights a week along with fellow community colleges Mt. San Antonio and Citrus. Ted Runner Stadium on the University of Redlands campus was also used.

However, the cost to rent those stadiums escalated and paved the way for alternative solutions. In addition to paying as much as $2,500 for rent, the schools did not share in concession income.

Szczpanski noted for last week’s “home” game at Chaffey High School in Ontario against Grand Terrace it required a caravan of six district buses to transport the team, marching band, cheerleaders and students.

The Chaffey and Fontana districts absorb the cost of transportation for schools to their designated sites. The charge includes mileage and hourly rates, and the total starts around $250 per bus. In constrast, Summit will pay for its buses this week to Temecula Great Oak out of its own budget. The cost could be as high as $500 per vehicle.

“We use two buses to Miller,” Hickey said, “and it’s close enough that they shuttle back and forth for the band and others. But, we have to pay out of our budget for away games.”

Getting on the bus is just half the battle.

“I tell the bus driver the route I want to take,” he said. “In the past, we got stuck at the I-10 underpass on Fourth Street for about 20 minutes on a Friday afternoon. So we’ve become adventurous and taken new and faster routes to Chaffey.”

The quicker for the Braves to walk into another team’s locker room, with its mascot painted on the walls.

“That’s a big disadvantage as you try to prepare,” Szczpanski said.

Several year ago, Rancho Cucamonga was the “home” team in its Baseline League game with rival Los Osos, on whose campus the stadium was located. The Grizzlies wore their white road uniforms in pregame but trotted out for the game in home blues.

That didn’t go down right with the Cougars, their fans or head coach Nick Baiz. It further fueled the bitter inter district rivalry.

“I just didn’t care for that,” Baiz said. “Let’s leave it at that.”

Until this year, Diamond Ranch coach Roddy Layton fought a constant battle with nagging injuries such as sprained ankles and sore knees. By practicing on artificial turf in the new stadium, there have been fewer injuries.

“We had lots of uneven practice fields, long and short grass,” Layton said, perhaps a direct result of budget cuts that diminished the maintenance staff. “It resulted in injuries that we don’t see as much with the new field.”

But it doesn’t end there. There’s a new attitude on campus with a new home.

“It’s a win-win for the district, the school and our community,” Layton said. “We’ve found out the crowd noise is so loud we can’t hear the snap count. We love that.

“The students are showing their school pride and it’s created a whole new school spirit.”

Lou Brewster is a nationally recognized motorsports journalist who has staffed NASCAR and NHRA events since 1969. Has also staffed high school football, in five different states, since 1967. Has won several national awards in writing and breaking news.

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